Oct 225 min read

Film REVIEW: Transformers One (2024) - ★★★★★

Hitting rewind on the classic sci-fi saga, Transformers One reveals how Optimus Prime and Megatron went from bro-bots to arch-enemies.

Including news, plot, trailer and quotes from the all-star cast led by Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Scarlett Johansson, check out our guide to the animated origin story.

Director: Josh Cooley

Writer: Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari

based on Hasbro's Transformers action figures

Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Hamm.

Genre: Animation, Sci-Fi, Action

Themes: Transformers, Robot, CGI Animation

The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but who once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.

The film has received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the story, animation, and voice performances.

In Cinemas Now

MIX UP REVIEWS:

Stewart - ★★★★★

"I really didn't expect this to be as awesome as it was. Not a huge fan of Transformers and the live action movies are a bunch of duds. However this animated origin story was fantastic. The storyline maybe a little simple and follows your typical path but I think that was all it really needs. Voice cast are fantastic with a shout out to Laurence Fishburne's cool character talking about The Matrix - hmm, where have I heard that before.

A thrilling cinema adventure, definitely worth catching on the big screen."

Mix Up Junior (Age 5) - ★★★★★

"I give it all the stars!"

Junior goes on to describe the entire storyline so to keep it spoiler free we won't add here, he did act out the whole film as well while watching it and afterwards in the foyer - so he definitely liked it!

Have you seen it yet?

Transformers One buzz - Why is everybody talking about the new Transformers

animation?

Don’t get us wrong, we love live action. But nothing gets a classic saga buzzing again like taking it back to the drawing board. Remember how the none-more-cool Ninja Turtles and SpiderVerse animations lured back the teens who thought they’d outgrown the ’toons?

Now, Transformers One does the same for the hit sci-fi franchise, rewinding to the days when future arch-enemies Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth Avengers movies) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) were rebellious young bro-bots.

“Transformers One is an origin story, so we not only talk about these characters that people know, but the origin of the species itself,” director Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4, Riley's First Date) told Variety. “We go back to the beginning. This is what happened. This is how we got to this place. You can go in knowing absolutely nothing and enjoy this film.”

Is Transformers One a prequel? Timeline explained

If you want to be all actual-factual about it, the Transformers franchise technically began in 1984, when Hasbro and Takara Tomy co-launched the original toy line. Likewise, you’re surely familiar with the clash between Autobots (yay!) and Decepticons (hiss!) from the smash-hit film franchise that began in 2007 with Michael Bay’s Transformers.

But if you’re hardcore for lore, you’ll know the Transformers story actually begins three billion years before the robots’ journey to Earth, on the distant planet of Cybertron. Here, robot society is already forming, complete with alliances, betrayals and power grabs. And it’s this unexplored powder keg of an origin story that Josh Cooley detonates in Transformers One.

Transformers One plot - What happens in the new Transformers movie?

Anyone who was a kid over the past forty years knows Optimus Prime and Megatron as leaders of the noble Autobots and villainous Decepticons, respectively transforming into a juggernaut and a handgun.

Now, Transformers One retools these age-old icons as adolescents. Originally known as Orion Pax and D-16, the two teenage droids are bottom of the pile on Cybertron, forced to schlep underground in Waste Management alongside the motormouthed B-127 (or as he’s better known, Bumblebee). Worse still, our heroes’ inability to transform makes them the butt of their brethren’s jokes.

But like all good teenagers, Orion Pax and D-16 are hardwired for rebellion. Soon, the duo – along with Bumblebee (Keegan-Michael Key - The Lego Movie) and new friend Elita (Scarlett Johansson - The Prestige) – have broken curfew to visit Cybertron’s weird and wonderful surface world. Straying into an ominous cave, they are finally granted the ability to transform by Laurence Fishburne’s (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) Alpha Trion. But each robot will use/abuse their new-found powers in very different ways.

“The world is not what they thought it was, and they then start to form two different views on how to solve the problem,” Josh Cooley told Entertainment Weekly. “Things get real and scary choices are made that really will affect everything.”

Cast of Transformers One - Who stars in the Transformers 2024 voice cast?

The jacked Aussie, Chris Hemsworth , flexes his comedy muscles, nailing the smartassery of Prime in his mall-rat years. “What I like about this version of Optimus Prime is there’s a brashness and recklessness to him that needs to be tempered,” he told Den Of Geek.

You know Brian Tyree Henry for actioners like Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. But you’ll hear a whole new side to him as young Megatron, capturing the internal conflict of a noble droid whose soul turns sour. “I talked with Brian a lot about this early on," Cooley told Empire. “I didn't want him to be just the bad guy. It was important to me that, once he started to turn, the audience was right there along with him, and felt for him, and understood where he was coming from.”

Scarlett Johansson kills it as mechanoid warrior princess Elita. But the funniest scenes in Transformers One come courtesy of Keegan-Michael Key’s Bumblebee, who is never far from a faceplant or faux pas. “There’s this youthful, childlike feeling about him,” the Mario voice actor told CBR Presents. “He’s very exuberant, he’s very energetic. So it’s fun to play because there’s a lot of buoyancy and levity.”

Who is the villain in in Transformers One?

It’s no spoiler to say that Megatron is headed for the dark side, and if you check out the Transformers One trailer, you’ll see a massive tentacled droid who is definitely bad news. But the big bad was confirmed at last month’s Comic Con as the fighter jet Starscream.

He’ll be voiced by Steve Buscemi (a veteran villain in Monsters Inc., Monsters University) “First choice,” Josh Cooley told fans in San Diego. “We call him up and he says yes.”

Transformers One age rating - Who can watch Transformers One?

While these warring robots will clang heads, there’ll be no Terminator-style ultra-violence in Transformers One. Bring the whole family.

Transformers 2024 animation - How good does the new Transformers movie look?

Look, we loved the Transformers cartoons of the ’80s. But they’re just a doodle on a napkin compared to the visual awesomeness of Transformers One. “Industrial Light & Magic is our animation team, and the look that they developed is just insane,” Pixar veteran Josh Cooley told Animation Magazine. “I wanted it to be believable so that it could have a sense of weight and colour and light, so it looks like you could reach out and touch it. But at the same time you can still feel the hands making it.”

Transformers One puts you in the trenches for the ultimate robot war. “You are going to feel the conflict,” Cooley told Den Of Geek. “The third act is epic. I saw it with a test audience, and they were left completely silent and still. As a director, seeing that gave me chills.”

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